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Polk County Reappraisal Manager Denied Severance

Times Record Staff

The Polk County Grievance Committee has ruled against providing severance pay to Polk County Reappraisal Manager Brad Fountain, who is out of a job because the county will seek competitive bids for future reappraisal projects.

The county assessor’s office will put all county reappraisal projects out for third-party bidding beginning at the end of August. Currently, 10 of 75 counties in the state do all reappraisals in-house.

Fountain earns $33,500 annually from the county. Another appraiser position in the assessor’s office who earned $27,500 annually resigned in January, but no other positions in the office are affected, according to Polk County Judge Brandon Ellison.

In a letter to Ellison, Fountain outlined his request, stating that he had no animosity toward the county, but he was looking for justification regarding retirement benefits.

Fountain, a 15-year employee of the county, planned to work for 13 more years and receive retirement benefits.

“My retirement as a county employee was non-contributory,” Fountain said in the letter. “Now, with new employment, all of my retirement will be contributory. This will effectively reduce my income until retirement age.”

Polk County has no severance pay in its personnel policy, but Ellison said he granted Fountain’s request out of formality.

“I wanted to give him a chance for due process,” Ellison said.

The committee met in executive session last week. Fountain could not be reached for comment.